User menu

Social buttons

Languages

Sunderland progress pleases Poyet

Gus Poyet is confident Sunderland are ready for the opening weekend of the Premier League after finishing pre-season with another win.

Published

9 August 2014

Saturday's 2-0 victory over Udinese ensured Sunderland will visit West Brom on the back of two successive victories, with both Steven Fletcher and Connor Wickham having been among the goals.

Wickham netted the second against Udinese to follow up his midweek goal against Real Betis.

"You want to win games anyway, but when the strikers are scoring it's even better because that word confidence is always there," Poyet told Sunderland's official website. "Connor will feel fantastic to have scored.

"The most important thing is that we made a few changes but still had the shape, the understanding.

"Overall it was very good preparation and I'm very pleased with the performance.

"We will make sure we rest tomorrow [Sunday] and then get ready with a full week [of training] before the season starts."

Santiago Vergini, who rejoined Sunderland on loan earlier this week, opened the scoring against Udinese from close range as Poyet's side secured an impressive victory over their Serie A opponents.

"Udinese are a very good team who know how to manage the tempo and you need to be spot on, to not make any mistakes," Poyet added.

"We nearly gave something away in the first half but [goalkeeper] Costel [Pantilimon] came up and saved, and from then on we were quite comfortable.

"I'm not saying we were the better team by far, but we were in control of the game and knew we would have a chance sooner or later."